Party off, dudes: New law puts dent in drinking

As the graduation celebration season swings into high gear, police in Minneapolis and St. Paul are bringing a new friend to parties where they suspect underage drinking: a social host ordinance.

In St. Paul, police will be circling by homes where people have hosted underage parties in the past. In other jurisdictions, authorities will be looking for telltale signs: heavy traffic on residential streets, loud music and noise, scores of young people carousing, and the most common indicator, complaints from neighbors.

"That is pretty much our invitation to come in," said Scott Knight, police chief in Chaska, which in 2007 was Minnesota's first city to pass a social host ordinance.

Such ordinances, approved last fall in St. Paul and this year in Minneapolis, are giving authorities a new tool to use against party hosts who allow underage drinking.

This week the St. Cloud City Council passed a social host ordinance that goes into effect in June. In all more than 40 cities and three counties statewide have enacted laws that cite those who host or allow people under the legal drinking age of 21 to consume alcohol on their property.

Authorities say the ordinances have been an effective deterrent. Knight said calls about underage drinking have dropped about 50 percent since 2007 when the law went into effect there. In St. Paul, where police issued 12 citations in the first six months that the law has been in effect, Sgt. Paul Schnell said the department has had fewer calls for service. Minneapolis police have issued two citations since February.

"It's not a magic bullet to end underage drinking, but rather a tool to focus on problems with locations," Schnell said. "In reality, we did not have the resources to take action against 100 underage drinkers at a house party, and yet the next week we'd be back at the same place. This really encourages those who host to be responsible for the lawful behavior of their guests. This is a new tool to ... hold them responsible."

This spring Chaska officials sent a letter to all graduating seniors and their parents reminding them of the law and reminding them that "underage drinking is not a rite of passage, it is illegal."

In St. Paul, police hand-delivered letters signed by Chief John Harrington explaining the ordinance to 40 problem properties where underage drinking has occurred and making enforcement of the law "an overt priority."

This spring Minneapolis concentrated educational efforts near the University of Minnesota, said Cam Gordon, Ward 2 City Council member who drafted the legislation for that city.

In St. Cloud, the ordinance comes after 1,109 citations for underage drinking were issued last year, most in the downtown area and near St. Cloud State University.

"Young people were unaware who they were inviting into their home and didn't know them or their background," said Bob Johnson, president of the St. Cloud City Council. "This is an unsafe practice. We are concerned about the safety of students."

While police embrace the laws, parents are slowly warming up to them, said Dorothy Clark Miles, a chemical dependency counselor in the Eastern Carver County School District.

"The parents are saying 'I don't want to go to jail,'" she said. "At first many saw the law as another punishment, but in reality it helps send a clear and unified message from authorities, teachers, coaches and parents, and it provides support for parents who say it's not OK to drink."

Authorities also say the ordinances help reduce other drinking-related consequences such as sexual assault, violence and car accidents.

"We have a great deal of concern for [underage] alcohol use because we've had far too much tragedy in car accidents lately," Schnell said. "And that is the last thing we want to see."